Just Showing Up Won't Capture Federal Cloud BusinessMarch 03, 2015
The observation that "80 percent of life is just showing up," generally attributed to comedian Woody Allen, has morphed into the admonition that "80 percent of success is just showing up." However, it appears that vendors who just show up with a generalized approach to marketing cloud technology to federal government agencies likely won't attract much business.

Relax, You're SurroundedFebruary 25, 2015
I don't know how many old movies there are in which the good guys say, "You're surrounded, come out with your hands up!" Somehow being surrounded is a bad thing -- or at least it was -- until it became a hot trend in the back office. Let me explain. Surrounding legacy systems, such as conventional ERP, is proving to be a good idea for a bunch of reasons.

HP's Marten Mickos: Open Source Is Not a Business ModelFebruary 23, 2015
Marten Mickos, senior vice president and general manager of HP's cloud unit, advocates making money from open source. He preaches what at first glance may appear to be two opposing business models. One is the notion that developing open source software entails meeting a reciprocity requirement. The other is the idea that using open source software does not require any reciprocity.

Pivotal Punts Big Data Platform to Open SourceFebruary 19, 2015
Pivotal on Wednesday announced its decision to open source all of the core components of its big data platform, becoming the first big data industry player to do so. The company also announced its participation in the Open Data Platform, which seeks to encourage more enterprise collaboration, along with the adoption of modern, scalable data architectures.

Azure Machine Learning Aims to Convert Data to InformationFebruary 19, 2015
Microsoft has announced new data services running on its Azure cloud in a bid to bring big data to the mainstream. Those services include the HDInsight Apache Hadoop-based service; Storm on HDInsight, which lets users use Hadoop and Storm to create distributed, real-time data processing solutions in Azure; and Azure Machine Learning, a managed cloud service for advanced analytics.

Vendors Jostle to Gain Edge in Growing Federal Cloud MarketFebruary 18, 2015
A major information technology trend within the U.S. government is the gradual -- and apparently inexorable -- migration of federal IT resources to cloud platforms. As the potential for federal cloud adoption has grown, vendors have intensified their marketing and improved their offerings to meet the emerging IT requirements of government agencies.

Encryption Can Create Stormy Weather in the CloudFebruary 17, 2015
Encryption has received a lot of attention lately as a solution to the growing data breach problem, but one of the hang-ups dogging the technology has been its ability to play nice in the cloud. That's especially true if an organization wants to control the keys by which its data is scrambled and use services offered by a cloud provider beyond simple storage.

CFOs Open Purse Strings to Accelerate Cloud AdoptionFebruary 13, 2015
Cloud-based alternatives to traditional hardware and software systems and enterprise applications are experiencing a new level of CxO acceptance. Chief Financial Officers are the latest members of the C-level suite to embrace SaaS, PaaS and IaaS solutions to not only reduce operating costs, but also improve their operating effectiveness so they can better achieve their corporate objectives.

Box to Let Enterprises Bring Their Own Keys to the CloudFebruary 11, 2015
Box on Tuesday raised the curtain on a new offering that allows its enterprise customers to control the digital keys used to encrypt their data stored in the storage provider's cloud. Box is working with Amazon Web Services and Gemalto to bring to market "Box Enterprise Key Management," and give its most security-minded customers total control over the keys used to encrypt data they store on Box.

AWS Success Underscores Demand for Cloud ServicesFebruary 02, 2015
Despite several highly publicized cloud hacks last year -- including the iCloud and Sony breaches -- the demand for cloud services is skyrocketing. Amazon Web Services grabbed 30 percent of the global cloud infrastructure service market in Q4, Synergy Research reports. AWS grew 51 percent year over year (YoY). Why the mad rush to the cloud? Isn't security an issue any more? And who's buying into the cloud?

Amazon WorkMail Lifts Back-End Email Burden From IT's ShouldersJanuary 30, 2015
Amazon is making a play for the enterprise email market. Offered by Amazon Web Services, WorkMail targets companies that want to move their on-premises email services to the cloud. WorkMail reduces complexity and cost. With all mail infrastructure relocated to Amazon's cloud, a company no longer need be concerned with buying hardware, installing patches, and installing mail backup systems.

Docker Security QuestionedJanuary 15, 2015
Security questions recently have been raised about Docker, a promising technology for running applications in the cloud. Docker is an open source initiative that allows applications to be run in containers for flexibility and mobility only dreamt of in the past. "Since the 70s, programmers have been talking about reusable code and the ability to migrate applications," noted IDC analyst Al Gillen.

PlayStation Now Subscription Service to Offer Instant Gaming GratificationJanuary 05, 2015
Sony Computer Entertainment America on Monday announced that the PlayStation Now subscription service will become available in the U.S. and Canada on Jan. 13 for the PlayStation 4. It will become available for other PlayStation Now-enabled devices at a later date. The service will provide unlimited online access to more than 100 PlayStation 3 games.

Yikes! Ransomware Could Take Over Your Hard DriveJanuary 05, 2015
Malware is running rampant on the Internet, affecting smartphones, tablets and PCs. Relatively new malware allows bad guys to encrypt devices until a ransom is paid. Usually the ransom is required in bitcoin, rather than U.S. currency, as it cannot be traced. What are the legal and other risks associated with ransomware? Ransomware is largely directed at personal devices and small businesses.

The Untold Stories of 2014December 22, 2014
It is time to look back at 2014, so I'll focus here on a series of stories I thought were interesting but didn't seem to catch much or any real air. Some, like what is really behind Sony's decision to pull The Interview still might take off. Hadoop analytics is one of the most powerful platforms to come to market, and one vendor stands out above all others: Cloudera.

Docker CTO Solomon Hykes to Devs: Have It Your WayDecember 18, 2014
Docker has moved from an obscure Linux project to one of the most popular open source technologies in cloud computing. Project developers have witnessed millions of Docker Engine downloads. Hundreds of Docker groups have formed in 40 countries. Many more companies are announcing Docker integration. Even Microsoft will ship Windows 10 with Docker preinstalled.

Tech Industry Rallies Around Microsoft in Data Privacy Battle With USDecember 18, 2014
A coalition of supporting organizations filed 10 amicus briefs with the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case challenging a U.S. government search warrant for Microsoft customer data stored on a server based in Ireland. The coalition includes 28 technology and media companies, 35 computer scientists, and 23 trade associations and advocacy organizations.

Sony May Have Succumbed to DDoS TemptationDecember 15, 2014
Sony reportedly has used Amazon Web Services to launch distributed denial of service attacks on sites carrying files stolen from its network. Those attacks apparently involved "hundreds of computers" in Tokyo and Singapore. Amazon reportedly issued a statement denying the claim, but the language it used was vague: "The activity being reported is not currently happening on AWS."

Have Intel and Microsoft Discovered the Fountain of Corporate Youth?December 15, 2014
This has been an interesting quarter. After Andy Grove left, Intel often seemed to struggle with its place in the world and seemed at odds with the computing OEMs. Now, though, it seems more and more like it did when it was 20 years younger. It's not alone, either. Microsoft, which seemed to have forgotten why there were OEMs, suddenly is acting much more like the firm we knew in the early 90s.

2015: The IoT, Big Data and Cloud Come TogetherDecember 12, 2014
Since December 'tis the season when industry prognosticators provide their predictions for the year to come, I'll offer my ideas about how three major tech forces -- cloud computing, big data the Internet of Things -- will converge in 2015, and four ways organizations can capitalize on this convergence. The various ways in which they will interact truly will be transformational.

Selling a Non-Product: The Multifaceted OpenStackDecember 02, 2014
Is OpenStack best deployed as a server distribution, a service from a cloud provider, or something else? At the OpenStack Summit in Paris last month, seven developers participating in a panel discussion failed to reach a consensus. One reason for the debate over deployment methodology is the lack of any clear product designation. OpenStack is more an entity than a product.

'The Practice of Cloud System Administration' Brings Network Management Down to EarthNovember 25, 2014The Practice of Cloud System Administration, Volume 2 is a look into IT gone bad in some companies, and how doing it right can salvage enterprise use of cloud computing. The authors make 11 statements about computers and their networks on the first page of the book's preface. They ask which statements are true. You most likely will get numerous wrong answers.

Vendors Sow Seeds for Next Big Federal IT Thing: ConvergenceNovember 19, 2014
Information technology vendors have spotted the next big thing for serving the U.S. government market. The only questions are 1) whether federal agencies themselves have seen the same thing; and 2) if so, whether they are prepared to jump into yet another new procurement process. What the vendors have in mind is akin to the turnkey process used in the construction industry.

When Microsoft Went A-CourtingNovember 17, 2014
FOSS fans perhaps may be excused if they've felt a bit confused over the past few days. Dizziness, headaches and vertigo also have been common. What strange new ailment is this, you might ask? Well, it's no ailment -- but that doesn't mean it's any simpler to remedy. The cause is none other than the news that Microsoft is open sourcing .Net and also expanding it to run on Linux and Mac OS.